Saints Row IV

When critics and fans pinned descriptors like "absurd" and "over-the-top" and "running around pantsless," we didn't really intend them to be a challenge. Volition, bolstered and encouraged by new publisher Deep Silver, have interpreted the praise just so.

The curtain was pulled back on Saints Row 4 at PAX East, and we were there to cover it. Now, you can see what we saw, including super powers, crazy new weapons like the dubstep gun, and a mech that dances the robot.

The seven-minute developer walkthrough below covers new activities, the alien menace, visual weapon customization (in addition to Saints Row: The Third's upgrades), and a robot that dances the robot.

The only problem I have is that they are trying to pass this off as Saints Row. This ain't Saints row anymore, so why not change the name and stop sh!tting on what use to be a respectable franchise. Don't get me wrong, it looks fun, but it reminds me more of prototype or crackdown than Saints Row.

I think Saints Row 2 was the best one. They balanced the serious storytelling that made it a GTA clone with the ridiculous awesomeness that was Septic Avenger to create a truly unique gaming experience. To this day, the Ronin arch is still one of the most amazing storylines I've ever played through. Then I saw the part with the superpowers and thought, "What the sh*t!?" I have no idea what happened to this franchise...One minute I'm cutting down an army of pimps with a katana (incidentally, one of the most amazing unscripted moments I've ever had in a game), I ignore the franchise for awhile, and then I see this bizarre and immature version of Crackdown...